British child psychiatrist John eastgate is facing professional misconduct charges over an incident in which he apparently led a young girl to falsely believe that she had been a victim of sexual abuse.
Eastgate conducted counseling sessions with the 13-year-old girl beginning in 1996. Her parents suspected she was suffering from anorexia. Eastgate diagnosed the girl with depression and prescribed anti-depressants for her.
He also used a series of leading questions and preconceived views to lead the girl to believe she had been sexually assaulted by an endocrinologist at the age of 9. The girl saw an endocrinologist because she had grown extremely tall, and the doctor prescribed estrogen to induce early puberty. Part of the treatment meant regular visits to the doctor to monitor breast and pubic hair growth to assess the effects of the estrogen.
After counseling sessions with Eastgate, the girl claimed that she had been sexually assaulted by the endocrinologist. Eastgate then contacted police and the girl was removed from her home. But the case against the endocrinologist was quickly dropped after it turned out the girl had been accompanied by a female relative on all of her visits to him, and they never witnessed any behavior that wasn’t strictly clinical in nature.
After more counseling session, the girl then accused three other men of sexually abusing her, including her father. The girl later retracted those claims as well.
Source:
Sex abuse questions criticized. Oliver Wright, The Times (London), September 3, 2003.
Doctor on misconduct charges claims he did nothing wrong. This is Wiltshire, September 4, 2003.
Girl ‘Told Psychiatrist Of Sex Abuse By Professor’. Ju-Lin Tan, Press Association, September 4, 2003.
How I questioned girl, by ‘false memory’ doctor. Patrick McGowan, The Evening Standard (London), September 4, 2003.
Doctor ‘led girl to believe she was sex abuse victim.’ Richard Alleyne, Daily Telegraph (London), September 2, 2003.